Video game players today take for granted that you'll get all of the story within the game itself. Back in the 80s and early 90s, if the game had any story at all, you'd most likely have to get the backstory from the instruction booklets that came with each game. Again, back before you had a tutorial level designed to walk you through the gameplay.

As a result, many players just ignored any story and went right for the gameplay. But some of these stories were frickin awesome. And might have involved drugs of some kind.

Take the game Hagane, for instance. Hagane is a little known SNES side-scroller. In it, you have two rival Japanese clans that have survived to the modern day; one of ninja, the other of samurai. The samurai clan had somehow got their hands on the Holy Grail and protect it from those that would want to abuse its power. The ninja clan naturally wants to abuse its power, so they attack the samurai and steal the Grail. Using its power with both science and sorcery, the ninja clan create this army of high-tech robots and supernatural monsters, with the plans to launch the Grail into space on a missile to use it as part of a ritual that will allow them to take over the world.

You play as Hagane, the only surviving samurai who stayed alive solely through sheer willpower and determination, long enough for the weapon smiths and scientists of his clan to turn him into a cybernetic samurai so he can go destroy the other samurai clan, retrieve the grail, and save the world.

It's insane, amazing and something I totally plan to rip off at some point for a story idea. Any other video game plots you can thank of that were awesome and would make good RPG fodder?

The Contra game series had one of the most in-depth backstories i've ever read.True,it took 4 games to get it all together,but what a gloriously drug-addled concept.....

The plots of Shattered Soldier and Neo Contra are particularly insane.

True,but try reading the entire story by Instruction manual's.It's like someone snorted coke and Draino,then wrote what they saw. It was cool as all get-out(and still is,imho),but was absolutely insane.

The game is set in the year 1997. Dr. Proton is a madman, determined to take over the world with his army of Techbots. Duke Nukem, the eponymous hero, takes upon the task of stopping him. The first episode takes place in the devastated city of Los Angeles. In the second episode, Duke chases Dr. Proton to his secret moonbase. In the third episode, Dr. Proton escapes into the future, and Duke pursues him through time, to put an end to his mad schemes.

Its pretty standard stuff, but seriously the future of 1997? A devastated Los Angeles? Moonbases? Doctor Proton? Its so stupid its fun.

If I'm being honest, I like any of the late 80s, early 90s Apogee Software shareware games. They were awesome and I probably had all of them on the family IBM 268 at the time.